001Cindy Anderson, Can go ahead and start. Thank you. Okay, this is a virtual special called meeting school board meeting for May 29 2020 I'm Cindy Anderson and I calling the meeting to order at 12 to PM and I'm going to do the roll call. Cindy Anderson, Please indicate when I call your name that you're present Veronica Nolan present Megan alterton president, maybe gentry. Cindy Anderson, Just sense of green. Present. Margaret Lorber. Present. Michelle Reeve. Present. Christopher Suarez. Present. Heather Thornton. Present. Great. We have all nine people in attendance. May I have a motion to adopt the agenda? Madam Chair, I move that we adopt the agenda for May 29th. Second. Okay, I have Ms. Gentry seconding Ms. Green's motion. And I think we have some amendments to make that we had an email about yesterday.
002I think an addition and a deletion. I don't know if I have a motion maybe from Ms. Nolan about that. Yes, Madam Chair, I make a motion that we amend the agenda according to... the desired added things that wanted to go on the agenda. I apologize, I don't have the right wording. Is there something I'm supposed to be saying? Yeah, the supplemental personnel action report. That is what we're adding. Okay, that's exactly what I wanted to add. So I'm so glad to have that. That's exactly, I've been thinking about it clearly all day. So if I could make the motion to add the supplemental. What did you just say? Personnel Action Report. Thank you so much. I would love to do that. More than anything. Right. And then removal of the locally awarded verified credit
003policy revision. I would also like to remove that as well from the agenda. From the consent calendar. Yep, would love it. So could I have a second for the amendment? I second that motion. Okay, Ms. Alderton. Thank you, Ms. Alderton. I appreciate your backing on that one. You're welcome. Ms. Alderton seconds Ms. Nolan's motion. So I'll call for a vote on the amendment. Please indicate when I call your name. Cindy Anderson, yes. Veronica Nolan. Enthusiastically, yes. Megan Alderton. Yes. Amy Gentry? Yes. Jacinta Green? I think I'm a yes. Yes. Yes. Margot Lorber? Yes. Michelle Reeve? Yes. Christopher Suarez? Yes. Heather Thornton? Yes. So that's 9-0 yes. And so now we have to adopt the agenda as amended. And so... I don't need another motion, right? I can just go with what we already have, right?
004No, you're fine with the first motion to adopt the agenda and now you can vote. Okay, so now I'm going to call for a vote on the amended agenda. I'll go through again. Cindy Anderson, yes. Veronica Nolan? Yes. Megan Alderton? Yes. Rami Gentry? Yes. Jacinta Green? Yes. Margaret Lorber? Yes. Michelle Reif? Yes. Christopher Suarez? Yes. Heather Thornton? Yes. Great. Okay. So as we talked about last week, there's public comment that we've made some changes so that public comment can be posted on the agenda with the board information. And we did have one this week, so people can know about that. But if you want the public listening in, if you want to do that in the future, you can send it and it can be attached to the board materials since we are not meeting
005in person right now. So now we're on to the consent calendar. Do I have a motion to adopt the consent calendar? Madam Chair, I move we adopt this consent calendar for today's meeting. Second. I'll give that to Ms. Lorber because she hasn't had one yet. And I heard Ms. Gentry at the same time. Ms. Lorber seconds Ms. Alderton's motion. Is there anything to pull from the consent calendar? If not, I'm going to ask for a vote on the consent calendar. Cindy Anderson, yes. Veronica Nolan, yes. Megan Alderton? Yes. Raimi Gentry? Yes. Jacinta Green? Yes. Margaret Lorber? Yes. Michelle Reeve? Yes. Christopher Suarez? Yes. Heather Thornton? Yes. Okay, that's 9-0 to adopt the consent calendar. So now on to... the new business. So we had our first part of our strategic plan presentation last week, so
006now I'll turn it over to Dr. Hutchings for the part two of that. Yes, so this is part two, and I hope board members had an opportunity to get really delve into the strategic plan and some of those details, because today we will be talking about the actual goals, which is really exciting and taking us deeper into our strategic planning. But I'm going to turn things over to our chief of accountability, Mr. Clinton Page, so he can reintroduce our consultants from 4Point. Thank you, Dr. Hutchings, and good afternoon, everyone. We are thrilled to be back for our part two of the Equity for All strategic plan. Last week, as Dr. Hutchings touched on, we delved into some of the high-level components of the plan, so things like vision, mission, core values, as well as the
007framework that underscores the plan. This week, we will be delving into some finer details in terms of goals. As well as some sample highlighted measures as well as actions to give the public and the board a flavor. We won't be going through all of them in the interest of time, but certainly all of them are included in the attached document. That is the draft strategic plan. Just as a reminder to the board, equity is not a component of this plan. Equity is in fact the backbone of this entire plan. It was the lens in which we used to view both our data to inform the plan, to highlight our areas of inequities, and then to strategically plan how we take steps to address those through the plan over the course of the next five years.
008Two important reminders and frame points just as we get into some of the more details today around the plan. And the first is that any high-quality, well-implemented strategic plan must be a living and breathing document. So while we're getting into some specific details today, and it is our best thinking from the committee as well as from staff in terms of what the next five years will entail, we also know, as our current situation exemplifies, that we do not always know what the future holds. and that we have to remain adaptive and learning in response to the unknowns of the potential next five years. The second point. is that while this is a five-year plan and that we will be implementing all components of the plan, we should not nor could we implement all components of
009the plan within year one. So as we point towards implementation, certainly work that has started now and will continue to be finalized is the phased approach of the plan and implementation. So for instance, what as a division are we doing in year one? What are we doing in year two? what are we doing year three four and five as we begin to meaningfully chunk this plan so we can do all components of the plan extremely well and learn and scale things meaningfully for our staff Just as a reminder, while myself and Four Point education partners, Dr. Scott Joptas and Rudy Ruiz will be talking to you today about the plan, we are able to bring this high quality plan before you today because of the amazing commitment and work of our strategic planning committee. These
010individuals, and I know I shared this last time, but just want to reiterate the amazing passion, dedication, and insights. that these individuals lent to what at times were difficult conversations in terms of the inequities within our current system and how we best go about addressing those over the course of the next five years. So we are thrilled to be speaking on behalf of the Strategic Planning Committee today. I know some members are certainly watching and those that aren't will be watching recordings in the future. So we are thrilled to be representing them today. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Ruiz. Gracias Clint and thank you and your department, Chair Anderson, Dr. Hutchings for the opportunity to work with you on this and to share this afternoon. We look forward to
011the board's feedback and discussion. And last week you had a chance to take a look at this framework of the strategic planning process, which did go through several stages over the course of the past year. We want to thank the school board for leading the setting of the vision, mission, and core values that we discussed last week. And as we move into the theory of action, today we want to spend more time thinking about and discussing the key performance indicators and how those KPIs are laid out in terms of the goals for each of the goal areas, as well as how we'll measure progress toward those goals and give you a sample, like Clint mentioned, of some of the strategies and some of the highlighted actions for implementing those strategies. So in terms of the
012organization of the strategic plan, as Clint mentioned, equity is the backbone across all five of these areas. But these are the five goal areas that have been identified by the Strategic Planning Committee over the course of this past year, beginning with systemic alignment, which we'll dig into shortly, as well as instructional excellence, student accessibility and support, strategic resource allocation, and family and community engagement. and I think you'll see the equity aspect reflected throughout each of these. So what do we mean by systemic alignment? Invariably throughout the needs assessment process, we heard from division staff as well as school staff that there were many, many initiatives and many priorities taking place. And there was a clear need for alignment and understanding of what were the non-negotiables, what are going to be the focus areas over these
013next five years. And so systemic alignment means making sure that internally, not only within the division, but across schools and even in the community with families in the community. But there's a clear understanding of what those priority areas are. And so we want to make sure that we can measure this. And of course, we'll be measuring this largely through some survey work. And in terms of the process, again, we had an opportunity to get out and connect with different members of the community through the needs assessment process. Similarly, the Department of Accountability will be taking using multiple survey methods to make sure that we have measures of this. So let's dig into a couple of the sample strategies and some corresponding highlighted actions. Schools and school leaders and even, of course, school staff need to
014really have a clear understanding of what are those, like I said, non-negotiables and what are some areas where they have some autonomy to attend to their school context. And so defining those is critical. I also want to bring your attention to the second bullet under the sample highlighted actions. because one of the critical steps for the division staff to work with all the school staff on is making sure that there is alignment with the division's professional learning, focusing on those established strategic areas. You'll notice, excuse me if you can go back a sec, you'll notice that also under letter B, the actions there illustrate that while we'll be focusing and shifting in just a second over to instructional excellence, the alignment isn't limited to what's happening instructionally in the classroom, but also you'll see that
015operations staff and really all members of the division are supporting conditions for learning. Getting into that instructional excellence, we know that instruction is the core work of the division. And you'll notice you saw last week some of the definitions that came out through this process in terms of what is high quality instruction and making sure that that instruction is differentiated, that it's culturally relevant and responsive. And so we want to make sure that those measures are not only defined by how the adults feel things are going, but also that we're getting. student voice involved in this process. And so you'll see that, of course, we want to measure instructional and academic progress, but also the division has committed to ensuring that students are having the opportunity to share about whether they feel supported socially, emotionally,
016and academically. And before we move on from this slide, I just want to also highlight that in terms of that academic progress, the division has made it clear and committed not only to, of course, checking in at the end of a semester or the end of a year. with typical standard summative assessments, but also really measuring students' progress over time in terms of formative assessments. We also know that students are coming from different circumstances and our current circumstances in terms of distance learning really highlight different challenges in terms of variable levels of access and opportunity. The multi-tiered systems of support will allow the division to establish a strong foundation at tier one for all learners, but also you'll see in the highlighted action that the division has committed to using appropriate and differentiated interventions to
017support all learners. I think we also wanted to highlight in this slide the importance that the division has conveyed in terms of its commitment to establishing a firm foundation academically in terms of early literacy as well. In terms of student accessibility and support, we looked at a number of different opportunities to learn in a number of different environments and programs. And the division really committed in terms of how it will implement this equity-focused strategic plan to making sure that students not only have access on paper to different programs, but are truly enrolling and being supported and succeeding in a variety of really all of the division's programs. And you'll notice here that one of the sample measures identifies enrollment and participation and success. in talented and gifted programming, for example. The division also identified key
018transition points. And so of course, national research as well as the local data has affirmed the importance for students in their pre-K to 12 journey of having support at key transitions like entering middle school, entering high school, and even going into post-secondary. And so we applaud the division on identifying those key transition points as areas for specific support. We also think that the letter B here in terms of pre-K programs is a good illustration, which I'll elaborate on later when we get into family and community engagement, of the fact that the division is demonstrating its leadership in the community and committing to this strong early foundation, but also acknowledging the fact that this needs to be done in collaboration with other agencies and other folks in the community to make this a reality. None of
019the commitments to equity can take place, we know, without really digging into and addressing strategic resource allocation. And so this goal area identifies specific measures for making improvements in this area. It also attends to some of the priority needs in terms of staff retention rates. So let's take a look at some of the strategies and actions for this. One of the key actions, of course, is adjusting the student formula and really this, again, going back to addressing barriers to learning and making sure that students have equitable opportunities to learn. This allows the division to ensure that students have the support that they need and that schools with students with greater needs have the resources that they need to support those students. The division is also calling out here the importance of staff retention. We know
020that school climate has been an area of need and focus for some time. And it's important that staff retention is an area that's addressed and there are specific actions here that will support that. And of course, that school climate piece connects here to family and community engagement. You notice that there are a number of areas, preschool areas, that are interconnected, of course. And so in terms of family and community engagement, making sure that, of course, families and community members feel welcomed, but also that we are having a strong engagement in multiple community groups. So we talked earlier in the process about how we reach out to different communities. especially ones that perhaps voices weren't being heard through standard surveys and were being in touch and working collaboratively with community organizations that are reaching immigrant families
021and reaching other families that may be less heard. And we're excited that the division has committed to continuing those approaches to gathering the voice of families as well as volunteers who want to support the division's efforts. And so this, again, these last few months have really illustrated how central and pivotal and critical partnering with families is. And so we want to make sure that the division is not only opening the doors to families, but also empowering families and building cultural competency and a customer service orientation. And letter B here really has been demonstrated quite a bit through the strategic planning process. One. parallel effort that has been underway is cited here under highlighted actions as far as the unified planning process. So the division's been working closer than ever with several key agencies across the
022city and the community, as well as nonprofit partners. We know that the division can't accomplish these goals for equity without support and collaboration with these partners. And so each of these entities has been working in sync to align their strategic plans and their efforts and their resources and we think that's very exciting. And so we have been encouraged to have the engagement of the board throughout this process. We know that they are looking forward to taking on these critical roles not only in terms of monitoring the implementation of the plan over the next several years but also aligning the superintendent's evaluation with the plan. And so over the next month, what we'll be doing for next steps is looking forward to receiving and then incorporating feedback from you all, the school board, as well as
023the community and the general public. And of course, ACPS staff and families and the strategic planning committee. Thank you again for the opportunity. I want to hand the floor back to chair Anderson now for any questions and comments. Thank you very much for that presentation. Now I'm looking to see. If we have Mr. Suarez has a question. Thank you, Chair Anderson. Yeah, and thank you for the presentation. I think the areas of focus and KPIs are great, and I'm excited to see how this is executed. And that's actually where my question falls is on sort of the execution. I think one of the things I've been anxious about in view of the COVID-19 situation. is the fact that it's more difficult to collect data. And what I'm particularly getting to is the notion of having
024a baseline for the strategic plan. You know, we're transitioning to something completely different. And we're obviously going to need have baseline numbers and data points to be able to meaningfully pull this plan off the shelf and use it as a tool. So my question is sort of in two parts. Part one is, what are we doing to sort of, you know, take these KPIs that we've identified and sort of figure out what the baseline is going to look like, which is, again, hard to have right now because we're not having normal classroom instruction in the typical situation that we'd have. So what does that look like right now is sort of part one. And then part two is I know with the last strategic plan, we had this massive document. that had like 85 KPIs
025on it with all of the numbers. And every year this would come out and we'd see like, here's the progress on the specific numbers. I'm kind of wondering, you know, for the more distilled set of KPIs we have for this strategic plan, are we putting something like that together? And what's that look like? Because I kind of want to, as a board member, be able to visualize, okay, what's our baseline? Where are we starting with this plan? And where are we trying to go in the long run, you know, to achieve our goals? So I'd love to just kind of hear what the thinking is around those issues. And I think you can elaborate on Mr. Page can elaborate on this a little more. But I think it is important for any strategic plan when
026you're starting your strategic plan. Year one is typically your baseline data year because you are not going to use assessment data from a previous strategic plan. Typically, you know, data points are going to be different because you've learned something from your previous strategic plan. Mr. Page, if you can chime in just to kind of provide some insight to some of the things that we're working with in regards to like MAP and some of the other data points that we will be using for this strategic plan. Yeah, absolutely. And thank you so much for the question, members Flores. I think the... I think two key highlights in terms of what is going to be different under the new plan in terms of where we intend to go versus where we've been under ACPS 2020. The first
027being that as members Suarez pointed out, we wanted and needed to move away from the analysis paralysis that was levied upon us annually from the 137 KPIs that we were reporting under the previous plan? And how could we really prioritize and stick a flag in some of the critical areas that we know annually are going to be kind of our engine light for how we're progressing from a more summative place and notion? In accompaniment with that, right, so one is prioritizing the annual measures and kind of those more high level engine checks. In collaboration with that, we also know that we want to move out of a autopsical stance in our strategic planning and shift more towards a learning organization focus, where we're having more frequent checks formatively throughout the year in terms of how
028are we doing. So that was spoken to in the PowerPoint in terms of kind of the twice annual updates to the board. So that is speaking to that and then also embedding even. More frequent checks into kind of that department planning and school planning process in terms of the alignment and making sure we're all pulling the rope in the same direction and have kind of a finger on the pulse, so to speak, as we go through the year so that we can be responsive and not reactive to any potential issues as they emerge. Sorry, I didn't get my I'm meeting. I have miss green. How's the question? Anderson, I actually have a comment and a question. And my first comment, I know a lot of kudos were given on the last call, but I wasn't
029here. So I have to offer my kudos as well. I just want to say it was a pleasure being a part of this team. Scott and Rudy and Clint and his team, they're just... a dream team. It's like you guys have been working together for so long to make all this magic happen. So thank you for bringing your professionalism and your enthusiasm all the way through this. And it was just interesting to see throughout all of the sessions, how all of this, you take so many different components and pull it all together to form this amazing plan. And I know this particular strategic plan is going to help take our school system to the next level. So thank you so very much. My question is on the page with the stakeholders that you're seeking feedback
030from. Have we thought of any creative ways to reach out to them to get feedback? I know it's very difficult during the times of COVID. And I was just wondering, how are we going to maximize getting the most feedback possible from all of the key stakeholders? I would say that a lot of the work of the strategic planning process with the strategic planning committee was kind of queuing them up for this moment, since they each have their own communities and networks and circles, and have asked them, as they've been receiving these updates, to help us get the word out to these different communities. Anything you would want to add there, Clint? No, I think that's exactly right. And I think it's acknowledging that it's At this point, we want to move, you know, kind of
031to the all. So, you know, sending out that message to staff, requesting feedback as they review the plan. And I think continuing to gauge that as we kind of go through this feedback process, gauging response rates and where we are. And if we need to do another reminder or think about different ways in terms of potentially having principals encourage their staff or, you know, other mechanisms, we... are set up to be responsive to that so we're generating as much response as possible both through staff and from the from the public i think one other area that might be able to assist is even maybe engaging some of our board members to see if they can reach out to their constituency groups because you all have different groups of people that you interact and talk with
032and you can use our information, but maybe you're sharing it out to get the word out and maybe sending a link out to some of your constituency email listservs because then that could get or generate. you know, a diverse response that we're getting into that we're not just hearing from, you know, typical people that might be engaged with reading ACPS Insider and things of that nature. It's trying to find a more, you know, aggressive approach of trying to get people to give some feedback. Okay, next I have Ms. Lorber with a question. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Jacinta, for your passionate expression of support. So I'll just say ditto to that, okay? Because I... I want to ask a quick question. Mr. Page, you mentioned that one of the reasons for the biannual
033check-in from the board was to keep us informed. I would ask, could the board actually receive even a slightly more frequent check-in? I feel to me, if you're going to be doing these constant robust check-ins, and maybe not after the first year, but as we progress, and because there are fewer... KPIs, you know, is there going to be fewer goals, more specific things to look at? Whoops, there's my daughter's dog. I would appreciate if the board is able to have maybe three times a year instead of two times a year. Is that, could that be possible? You know, I think we had a lot of discussion around and you can chime in as well around the frequency of our report outs. And 1 reason why we talked about the mid year and the annual is
034so that we actually have data to show progress being made and not just, you know, giving just bits and pieces of information without having a story to tell. It's similar to, you know, we think it's important with the. administrative team meeting with our schools on a quarterly basis so that we're able to come in and provide some guidance, provide some necessary supports. So then when we're reporting out, because when we report out to the board, we're also reporting out to our community that we're actually showing, you know, from the beginning of the year to the middle of the year, from the middle of the year to the end of the year to provide people time with making the necessary revisions or. actions that they need to take. But Clint, you may want to elaborate a
035little more on that because we did discuss the frequency of our board sessions. No, I think you covered it, Dr. Hutchings. I think really the strong thinking and what landed us on the twice annual was, as Dr. Hutchings talked about, particularly from a data perspective, wanting to make sure that we had a robust enough story to tell in terms of some of those high-level indicators. So for instance, map data, right? So when we incorporate map across schools, we'll obviously have a fall assessment and then we will also have a winter assessment. And so then coming to paint the picture in terms of from fall to winter, what are we seeing? What are the areas of highlights? What are the areas of kind of future digging and unearthing? So that was the discussion there. Okay, Miss
036Lorber has a follow-up question. Yeah, hi. Just a comment. I mean, I've always called myself, I'm a rainy day friend instead of a sunny day friend. So I like to know when we are then be supportive when there are challenges. And so even so, perhaps the first year, you know, it's and obviously, as Mr. Suarez raised things, it's such a different world right now. But in principle, I think the board, if anything, wants to be a little more, you know, informed about not so much doesn't have to be the progress and the substantive data. And it's more about. you know, how's it going? How is it going? And is this turning, you know, are there issues that you're having? I just feel like, you know, we don't want to be in the weeds, over-involved, but
037I think check-ins, you know, that rather than waiting until you've got something to show, I think I just meant just being a little more. checked in with you all on how it's going. That's all. But we don't need more comments on this. I just wanted to let you know my feelings. And we also, I'll make this one final comment, but we still want to open up our quarterly chats to our board members, you know, because that gives us something that allows you all to really see firsthand the staff. It's not us talking, you know, we're there listening just like you. And I think we don't want to lose that because that gives the board an opportunity to really get connected to the work and to see how teachers, staff, you know, administrators are working collaboratively.
038collaboratively and what supports are being invested. I think that to me is, it definitely is meaningful. And that is the way that we have been trying to get the board to be involved in the good, the bad and the ugly along the way on this journey that we're having. So I didn't want to miss that and lose that because we want to keep that going. That wasn't something that just was happening for the last strategic plan. Okay. We have Dr. Reif up next with a question. Yeah, thank you. I just a couple comments and then my questions. I just wanted to, again, reiterate thanking everyone, you know, leadership as well as all the members of the committee who worked on this. It can it's obvious that a lot of effort went into producing it. And
039I, you know, I certainly support all the goals and priorities. I think it addresses. you know, long standing inequities that we've had within ACPS. It focuses on alignment, transitions is another big area, and really just providing support for our schools and our staff. So I thought all of that was great. And I also think that the document that was produced by the communications department, I just wanted to again reiterate that I think it looks really visually very nice. So great job on that. Just like some of my other feedback. The slide that you showed us with the framework, you know, just being honest, you know, I know one of the issues with the last strategic plan is that there were so many KPIs and so much going on and, you know, not being a part
040of the committee when I read the whole document. It felt like so much afterwards that it was hard to like really zero in on what the key takeaways were, I guess. So that's just kind of like, I just wanted to kind of share that. And, and I think that framework, when you look at the slide for the framework, there's like so much going on in that slide. And I think that's, that kind of like summarizes like a little bit of how I felt after reading it. Like I was like, there was just a lot there. And another thing I wanted to comment on is that I think there was a lot of focus and emphasis on instruction, which I think is very good. But when I hear instruction, I think a lot about pedagogy and,
041you know, we talked about the supports and everything, but what I, what was kind of not highlighted enough for me was curriculum, honestly, you know, with all the the changes in, you know, the way kids are learning today, you know, more online learning, and we're relying less on these physical textbooks. I think I've observed and I've experienced as a parent that sometimes it's hard to really understand, you know, what your kids are learning, how it's all connected. Sometimes it feels like a little bit disconnected. And so, and I know like with the parent engagement goal, you did touch on, you know, trying to help parents understand how they can support their kids. And I think that's really important. But I think a part of that is also just having a better sense of the curriculum.
042And so my questions were, Well, one thing was when I was reading it, it seemed like, you know, some of the things were not kind of finalized. They were still being determined, like the division-wide areas of focus. It said it will likely include this, or it was the measures were like sample measures. So I'm just trying to understand if between now and when the board approves this on June 26th through this conversation today and then the public hearing, is that? when you're going to be finalizing those things or are they going to be constantly evolving? And then my second question was just about how the KPIs and the measures relate to one another because those are both measurement points. And for example, in the document it says for the KPI, we'll focus on disproportionality of
043underrepresented students in advanced courses. And then one of the measures for student accessibility and support is disproportionality rate of students in TAG. So I'm just trying to understand like the KPIs and the measures like how you would say that they relate to one another. I think those are all really good points with the feedback. And, you know, thank you for sharing that with us. And we are going to take all this feedback because we really do need it. One thing that I think is important for the board and the community to know is we want to ensure so that everything doesn't seem so overwhelming because, you know, our strategic plan is looking at a five-year timeframe, right? But one thing that we have discussed. over the past year, and we actually just started discussing it
044when I first came on board in 2018, and that was having a year one, year two, year three, year four, year five focus areas so that you are chunking the five years and not having to look at a full document all at once, right? And I think that's something that is going to be key. And what happens with that is similar to last year was our practice of doing that. last August when we started to do our areas of focus for 2019, 2020, and you know how we use the data to focus on those specific areas and what we were going to do. That is going to be similar to what the areas of focus for year one, year two, year three, year four, year five are like, but there are overarching themes for each.
045And if you look at in the document and Mr. Page can elaborate this on a little more, but Those areas of focus that are going to be, I think we call them non-negotiables areas of focus for the school division. Those are the overarching themes, but the data is going to drive what specifically that is for those overarching areas. And we're going to probably see building upon, you know, once year one happens, building on that in year two, building on that in year three, so that we're achieving that goal. by year five is so that we're not trying to accomplish everything all at once. But Mr. Page, I know you can elaborate a little more on the areas of focus that we did include and how we worded them in the document. Yeah, absolutely. So and
046I think some of this goes back to, as Dr. Hutchings was talking about, some of those framings. around the fact that we know this has to be a plan that is adaptive. So those areas of focus will be kind of, you know, certainly planned and chunked, but then also be responsive. So they may shift over the course of the five years as we unearth new challenges or new areas that we know we have to focus on. I think the other question you had, Dr. Reif, was around the KPIs and the measures and kind of the key distinctions there. and really um in thinking about the kpis those are the the high level things that in the plan uh the committee felt were important to highlight in terms of again that proverbial check engine light from
047an annual basis how how is this plan moving these key indicators are we seeing movement are we seeing improvement And if not, why not? And then within that, why not is where you get into the discrete measures within each goal, right? So those discrete measures within each goal are meant to unearth from kind of more of a process perspective, how progress is being made over the course of the year pointed towards those KPIs. So that's the distinction there. And hopefully that helps them. Okay. Did you have a follow-up, Dr. Eve? No. Okay. I don't see any other hands. Does anybody have anything else? Won't be the last time we talk about the strategic plan. I guarantee it. It has to be that way, right? That's what we're going to need it for. Okay. Thank you,
048everyone. Have a nice weekend for those of you who are going to ring off. Thank you all. Okay, next up, we have our weekly Q&A time. I'm not going to be cognizant of the time because we do have our work session, but we have a little bit of, it's only 1243. So I think we can have a few questions if there are some that I would expect somewhat unrelated to the budget since we're going to get into that. And if it's about the budget, then, and that's all that people have, then we can just conclude the meeting and get into that. So, Dr. Reeve? Yeah, I know that I believe we're going to be talking about the summer learning 3.0 next, at our next board meeting. But I just, I know there's been a lot
049of talk about it in the community. And I know Dr. Hutchings, your Q&A yesterday did cover it. But if there's just anything at this moment that you want to say about to the community, I thought this might be a good time to do that. Thank you, Dr. Reeve, for asking that question. Summer learning is not mandatory, everybody. Summer learning is expected. However, you can opt out. Two different things. We've never used the term mandatory. And I rarely do that, but I just think that people have taken it out of context. The summer learning opportunity really is, this is the first time we've offered it to all of our students. And honestly, I hope that this becomes something that we do. even in the future, because we have targeted in the past our summer learning just
050for students that may have had challenges throughout the year, who may have special needs. And, you know, really all kids experience some form of summer loss. And I think we should extend it to everybody and it should always be available for our students. And the main reason why we wanted to do this, and particularly this year, is because We closed our school buildings on March 13th. You know, we have not been able to replicate face-to-face instruction, even though we know our kids are engaged in, you know, asynchronous and synchronous learning and in all different ways over the past couple of months. There is still some academic loss for every single one of our students because that interaction, face-to-face interaction, I mean, it's real. Like, I mean, it does have benefits to it that kids aren't
051getting today. So we wanted to make sure that, you know, we were trying to reduce the amount of academic loss and summer loss that is going to occur. So when we start out and however we start out in the fall, because we still are uncertain around what that's going to look like this fall, that we've done everything that we can just to provide our families as well as our students with some learning experiences in July. We also are aware that, you know, there are many uncertainties around our pools going to be open, our fields going to be open, our playgrounds going to be open, you know, our camps going to function. If they function, it's not going to be at the same capacity, which means everybody's not going to be able to be in camp,
052right? That's just not going to be possible. The same way, if we keep having these social distancing and social guidelines, social gathering guidelines, everybody's not going to be able to be in school. at the same time in ACPS because we are already overcrowded, right? So we got to be prepared for that. Everybody's not going to be able to be on a bus at the same time in ACPS. And this is going to require us to really look at how we do our learning very, very differently moving forward. So that is what the summer learning experience is all about. I do want to say that it did not roll out the way that it was expected. So, hey, I mean. I'll take it for the team, right? And in regards to that, that, you know, I
053wish we would have been able to roll it out a little differently last week, but the plan itself is really solid and it is to try to provide. learning for all of our students, but it's parents' prerogative to say, hey, my child is doing too much and I don't want them a part of summer learning. We are not going to look down on parents who say they don't want their child a part of it. My wife and I, we had a discussion about whether our kids are going to be a part of it this summer. So we had to have that discussion too, which they are, because no matter what we're doing, you're going to get on there for at least two hours because you're not going to sit around the house doing nothing all
054day. That's just our household. But I think the parents are going to have to make the right choice for their families. And we're not trying to tell people you don't have a choice. And this is like school. And even with our staff, they're not required to teach this summer or to be a part of this learning this summer. But many people have been asking or inquiring about it because people depend on summer, you know, experiences. So we hope that our staff will sign up. But we are prepared to do what we need to do for all. But thanks for asking that, Dr. Reif, because that has been, you know, a hot topic out there. And unfortunately, you know, our media has taken some words out of context. And, you know, I think it's sometimes, which
055I rarely discuss about the media, because the media is their prerogative to report anything they want. But we have this platform to also say what we want to. And I think it's important for our community to know that we've never made it mandatory. We do make it an expectation. you have a choice as a family to either participate or not. Okay, next up I have Ms. Nolan with a question. Thank you so much, Dr. Reed, for asking that question. And thank you so much, Dr. Hutchings, for your explanation, because that was one of the questions I wanted to ask. Unfortunately, I think it's a phenomenal offering that we're providing, but the communications and rollout wasn't obviously up to snuff and provided a lot of misinformation. I mean, I really appreciate you emphasizing the word mandatory.
056It's not mandatory, because that is the word that was used in the communication. It's the word that... that caused a lot of concern and questions among parents. So again, I just think we always want to be mindful in terms of our communication and how we're rolling things out because I think that's where a lot of missteps were taken unfortunately that took away from hard work and a great offering that many students. So I know that's something that we'll focus on moving forward and how we improve on that. My question was, I actually ran into a Jefferson Houston parent on her walk this morning, and they're just curious as to when is the big announcement going to take place for the principals in terms of Jefferson Houston, Douglas MacArthur, and Charles Barrett. And so being that
057I'm the liaison representative to two of those three schools, and I was the proud liaison last year to Douglas MacArthur, I was wondering if you could just take a moment to share with the community as to when can they expect an announcement? Yes. So there will be a news release later on today for our principal positions. And the names of those individuals were on a consent calendar today. So we wanted to wait for that to happen first. We made a practice now to make sure we're not releasing anything until it is board approved and all of the paperwork and things are solid and completed. But later today. All those wonderful people will know who their next instructional leader of Charles Barrett, Douglas MacArthur and Jefferson Houston Pre-K through eight IB school will know who their
058instructional leaders are. So we're really, really excited about that. But we will do in July a bigger kind of announcement with like all of because by then we'll have. hopefully George Mason, you know, because we're going to be starting to search on George Mason now and any of our other transitions that have occurred. We want to be able to showcase all of our leaders at one time. So we're not doing individual big ones. We're doing, we're informing the communities, but we're going to do a division wide, big explosion of all of our new leaders in July. Thank you. Great, thanks. Okay, I don't see any other hands up. So I think we can safely assume that we're free to end this meeting and go on to our work session. But first, before we do that,
059I'm going to need a motion to adjourn. Madam Chair, I move that we adjourn. Second. Ms. Green seconds Mr. Suarez's motion. I'm going to call for a vote, roll call vote. Cindy Anderson, yes. Veronica Nolan, yes. Megan Alderton, yes. Remy Gentry, yes. Jacinta Green, yes. Margaret Lerber, yes. Michelle Reeve, yes. Christopher Suarez, yes. Heather Thornton. Yes. Okay, the vote is 9-0 and we are adjourned at 1252.